A Wrist Full of Memories
by Mandolin Reign
Summary: GSR. They have created a roadmap of their relationship so that if they get lost along the way they can find their way home.


**A Wrist Full of Memories**

_Summary: GSR. They have created a roadmap of their relationship so that if they get lost along the way they can find their way home._

_Disclaimer: I don't own CSI; no really I don't, seriously._

**The Bug  
**I met my husband when I was in my early twenties; he was in his late thirties. He was giving a seminar entitled _Entomology in Forensic Science_, I had heard he was boring, but I disagreed, and found the seminar very interesting and the presenter even more interesting. There was instant chemistry between us, but we both denied it, well him more than me. I knew that I could fall in love with him from the moment we met, and I found that to be exciting. Later he claimed that he too thought that he could fall in love with me, but it scared him.

He lived in Las Vegas and I in San Francisco, so we kept in touch through emails and occasional phone calls which were generally about cases we worked, but what did I care; I had contact with him. Then one day I got the call I never thought I would, "I need you," is what he said, unfortunately he meant professionally, but I got to be near him, so what did I care.

We continued to deny the spark between us, even as we grew closer, until we gave up the fight to deny it all together and gave into the happiness we knew we could find together.

**The Heart  
**We sat for hours just talking. We had been together for a few months, but he still had parts of himself he was not able to share with me. At first it hurt a little because I had pretty much fallen apart in front of him and shared my deepest, darkest, and most painful secret that no one else knew, and the thought that he was afraid to do the same hurt. He must have known because he took me to the place in the desert where he likes to look at the stars. He had packed a picnic dinner, and at sunset we laid a blanket down and enjoyed the meal.

Afterwards I leaned my back into his chest and we watched the stars come out. It started as casual conversation, but eventually he was telling me about his mother, about his father running off, about his step father dying. He told me about his most painful memories and his happiest as well. We talked for hours until it was too cold for us to stay out any longer.

**The Evergreen  
**Our first Christmas together we still hadn't shared our secret from the rest of the world, so we each volunteered to work on Christmas, after all it would have been out of character to do anything but. We each had the following day off, so we celebrated Christmas then. A few days prior we had set up a tree in Gil's town home, and every so often one of us would deposit a present underneath the boughs.

On our Christmas morning we went out for brunch, not to the local diner, but a four star restaurant, after all it was Christmas. Then we went back to his place to open presents. He gave me a book of poetry, which I have taken to quoting to him, my own stash of Blue Hawaiian, and a single plane ticket to Hawaii. Confused by the last part, I innocently asked, "You're sending me away?"

"Yes," his reply had been quick and confused me for real this time, and then he fanned himself with another ticket, "And I will be accompanying you."

"Wow, vacation together, that's big."

"That we are taking a vacation together, or the fact that we will actually be taking time away from work?"

I thought for a second, "Both," was my simple reply. "Thank you," I kissed him, and then said, "Open yours."

He did as he was told. The fist gift he unwrapped was a copy of the Entomology book I had spilled coffee on the week before. "I told you not to worry about that."

"I know, but it is one of your favorites and how can you get a good idea of how to identify different specimens if you are looking through coffee stains?"

Next came a baseball cap featuring the Las Vegas 51s and a pair of tickets to ten home games for the upcoming season.

It was the final gift that had me both excited and nervous. "Sara," he gasped as he opened the box and saw the picture. "How did you do this?"

Still a little nervous about his reaction, I replied, "When we were cleaning out your home office so we could paint, I found it in some of the clutter. I figured that since you don't really have too many pictures, I mean other than bugs, that maybe you would want it out, and so I had it restored and framed."

Gil held the picture of his mother and stepfather in his hands as he stared at it. "I had nearly forgotten how happy they were together. I can't believe you did this, thank you."

Before I could respond, he pulled me into a tight embrace.

**The Key  
**It had taken us awhile, mainly because we had to keep appearances up, but it didn't really matter because we had spent nearly every day together for the last year and a half, but when my lease was up for renewal, he convinced me not to sign. "Sara I not only want you in my bedroom, but my kitchen, living room, and backyard as well. I want you in every room, not in my house but our home." He had spoken so honestly that I didn't even think twice about it.

I nodded and said something poetic like, "Okay," before we said goodbye to my apartment in our own way.

**The Joined Rings  
**It was our second trip to Hawaii, and it was just the two of us standing in front of the minister on the shores of the Pacific when we whispered those sacred words, "I do," to each other.

When the minister said, "You may kiss the bride," we already were.

I had known that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with the man in front of me for years, but I felt like I had won the lottery when he had told me that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me as well.

It was sad though, all that way to Hawaii, and we saw very little outside of our hotel after that night on the beach.

**The Baby Shoes  
**I am not going to lie and say I was surprised when the stick turned blue, we knew what we were doing, after all we are a couple of highly educated people. What surprised me is how much I actually wanted it. Ten years ago I never thought I wanted children, hell I never really liked being around kids. I preferred adults; always have even as a child.

The next nine months went by slower than I had thought possible, especially the last couple. I had become so eager to meet this child that was part me, part him. Would it have my hair or his? Blue eyes or Brown? My smile or his? The possibilities were endless and the longer it took to arrive the more I obsessed.

Then one day while making dinner I knew that we were finally going to meet the person who had been using my bladder as a soccer ball. Nearly twenty-two hours later we were introduced to Brian Ulrich Grissom, all eight pounds and eleven ounces of him, and we both fell in love for the second time in our lives.

* * *

I wear all of my golden memories on my wrist. It was his idea, in fact he once said, "It's a road map of our life together, so when we get lost along the way we can look to it and find our way home." He added a new charm to it at every major development in our relationship starting with the bug he gave to me after our first night together. Now as I sit here alone fingering the road map of our life together, and I know that I wouldn't want to change any of it. 

_Fin_


End file.
